Sorry about getting it up late! It's actually up on time-- just moved forward so it's at the top of your friend's list for a few hours. ^__^


Did you know that Washington never had wood teeth? Nope. They were a mix of ivory and human. I don't want to know where the "human" part came from.

Lincoln didn't actually die after being shot at Ford's Theater-- it took him eight hours afterwards to do that.

And Teddy-- well, he was shot too on the campaign trail... but, he was so tough that while bleeding from the wound to his chest, he refused treatment until he finished his campaign speech.

Now THAT'S a President I'd want.

click this strip to see the results of this "election"!


So, I know I can say without a doubt that this presidential election is the single-most exciting and important election I've ever voted in--and that even tops the election where I had to oppose measures that would eventually drop an airport on my house.

While I'm not going to rehash anything you don't already know about any of the candidates out there, let me say this:

Thanks for voting and exercising your voice a heck of a lot more than usual, that our forefathers (and mothers) fought so hard to allow us to do.

Just updated! A rundown on the great and eye-covering-- or in the case of SalesGenie.com--ear-pluggingingly bad spots of the game.

Stop on by, let's see what you thought of them.

Well, gonna sit down and watch the commercials game! Enjoy everyone!

Never really understood those parents that thought a mall was a much better place for kids to score candy than their own neighborhood... well, except the ones dodging bullets.
But heck, even malls have their fair share of that. But I digress.

I always loved watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown growing up. It was second only to my love of the Charlie Brown Christmas. I lived for that neon spinning CBS Special Presentation logo:

...because I knew what followed was just pure, unadulterated joy.
Fact! CBS used this bumper starting in 1972, all the way through the early 90s!

My neighborhood growing up slowly lost more and more kids going door-to-door... and although I lived in the sticks, our houses weren't that far enough apart to get some goodies. By the time I hit high school, we were lucky to get even two trick-or-treaters.
Now, since my sister and I could score more per capita by going into town and going around with our friends, we usually ended up with two or more bags of stuff. Our candy jar from that point on was stocked for the next year. Dad always ate the chocolate-- being a chocoholic that he is.

Personal favorites: Sweettarts in those little three-per-wrapper. Now they have packets of 15... and they got more chalky since I last remember. Still good, just... not as sweet or tart. Too many artificial stuff to cut down on costs, I guess.
Nestle Crunch or Kit Kat in mini-bar form took the crown for chocolate (still does, actually, next to a Mars Bar).

I lived in apartments for the better part of the past 10 years, and that also cuts down on ghouls, witches, and...*sighs heavily* Power Rangers from knocking on one's door as well. I live in a house now... and as of 7 pm, we've had one hunter/gatherer: our next door neighbor's kid dressed like Flavor Flav, complete with giant clock and viking helmet. Not what I'd call an "upstanding" costume, but I give him props for authentic re-creation.
Update! Late arrivals! So far we're up to about 25 ToT's. I may run out of stuff!
Just a note: dressing in your ghetto school clothes does not constitute as a "gangbanger" costume.

Anyways, I got a bag of mini Nestle Crunch Crisp (the next generation! Kit Kat has a baby with Crunch!) calling my name in the freezer.
That, and a tall glass of cold milk...

...I better make a dentist appointment soon.

P.S.! Read the new Shulz and Peanuts biography!
It's a sad book, but highly enlightening into a strip we all knew and loved.

Fact! Charles Shulz hated the name "Peanuts" for the strip-- it was "suggested" by his publishing syndicate!

slash•fic: (n.)
1. Genre of fanfiction involving pairing two male or female characters together; characters are commonly shown with a slash inbetween names in a printed summary of the story
2. untrue stories about Guns 'N' Roses guitarist Slash

I have quite a few friends who are so deep into writing/reading slash†fic that it's nigh-impossible sometimes to read their blogs. It's one thing that they write about tv shows with male leads who have more than just getting the job done and going home after it's over (more like going home with each other if they have anything to say about it), but it's even reached out to band members, literary works with child wizards, and your biology teacher and gym coach from 8th grade.

Normally I'd think why on earth they spend so much time writing stories about never-in-a-million-year hookups... and then I realize how many times I thought of Franka Potente making out with Sandra Bullock. Or Natalie Portman. Or any combination thereof-- and then shutting the hell up for being a hypocrite.

Thoughts this week:

Heroes started back up this week, and I have a prequel comic in case you haven't seen it:

Click on the pic to read up!

Ghost Hunters started back up this week.

Eureka on Sci-Fi wraps up its season next Wednesday. :(

Um... 24's still a long way off, and Kiefer Sutherland got slapped with a DUI, the second in the past few years. He could face... FOUR DAYS in jail. I say he pulls a Jack Bauer and gets out in... 24 hours. (Yes Frank, I used the joke again. Shh.)

I gotta get my DVR back-- I hate being tied down to the TV.

Ooh, sorry this one's so late this week true readers. Starting a new job, a trial-by-fire no less, pulling in likely 10 hours of overtime in only your second week really limits my production time.
Actually, of all things, not my pencil or inks-- just the uploading and graphic manipulation is what takes up a lot of ticks on the old clock.
I wasn't even able to get my 24thecomicstrip strip up this week, and it's been inked for 3 days!

*sigh*

I just need to get more acclimated to this new gig, and then I'll be fine, right as rain. Just you see.

*yawns*
Time for bed. G'nite world.

Y'know, it's something that, even today with as many female readers that watch anime and read manga that I just don't see them in comic book stores. Why? Easy: most comics are written for a male audience. Oh sure, the stories have gotten far more serious, some often having to deal with the reality of 9/11, which in turn affected how even superheroes have to adapt to a new type of terror (check out the first few pages of Marvel's Civil War megaseries to get an idea of what I mean), but in the end, women just aren't all that interested in the tights-clad, codpiece-wearing crusaders.
I can imagine that the busty, often sexily-dressed heroines aren't helping.

And that's another thing-- there aren't enough female heroes to go around to make it appealing. Oh sure, you've got Wonder Woman, but on the Marvel side, what have you got? Granted, a decent portion of the team on X-Men are female, but they get lost in a group effort. It's actually so bad that when Marvel produced their art for the recent U.S. Post Office set of stamps of their superheroes, the best leads they could come up with were Elektra and Spider-Woman, the latter of which is now a lesbian in a plot twist (hey, right on, but really, is that what it takes to get readers?) Elektra was created as an assassin-- essentially becoming something of an anti-hero, but kinda hard to get behind that. Spider-Woman really doesn't cut it when it comes to "memorable", really.

In fairness, comics have tried to get the burgeoning female audience back-- Archie Comics recently took on a bit of a manga-esque look for one of their new publications, and DC has a manga arm now. Marvel even gave Mary Jane a high school-based title, and has employed more comic artists based on manga-style and influence over the ripply-muscled ones. But in the end, I'd still find more gals in a Borders or Barnes than Planet X looking at the funnybooks. It's a slow process, but I can only hope that female presence can bloom greatly in the comic book stores.
Meh, it'd probably just send the boys scrambling for their "No Girls Allowed" treehouses.

You know what I hated as a kid most of all around this time of year, and even still today?

Back to School commercials.

I'd get out of school sometime around June 4th, give or take a few days based on snowfall growing up in Chicago (I think we were allowed up to a work week's worth before they would start tacking on days to the school year). And then,

FREEDOM!

Ah, glorious. To run through the fields looking for bugs, getting dirty, watching Get Smart, I Love Lucy, The Munsters during lunchtime at home (Mom didn't approve of that last show for some odd reason however-- didn't stop me and my sibling from watching it since she was off at work when we were old enough to stay home ourselves), riding bikes, being in little league baseball, getting soft serve ice cream afterwards on a cool, cricket-serenaded night, the bugs flittering around the halogens and street lights...

But then, WHAM! Middle of July, and already the department stores start tossing the ads on TV, and in the Sunday paper.

Hello? I thought I had until the end of August, warden! Let me enjoy the time I have before you incarcerate me for another nine months, huh?

I didn't dread going back to school... I just hated being reminded of it. If it were up to me, advertising wouldn't start until the 2nd day of August--that way it doesn't feel like a countdown ending on July 31st with August 1st being the day of doom. It'd be like how stores sell things at $3.99-- you think it's three bucks, but it's really four. That'd be more than enough time for parents (okay, moms) to get to the store and start checking off all those supplies. I actually enjoyed as a little kid going to get a new backpack or a fresh box of crayons, and yes, the coolest-looking pencils I could find to sketch in the back of my notebooks with. I wanted my Trapper Keeper too-- but I didn't need 64 pockets with reinforced binders and whatnot, I just wanted something to hold my folders (and a color that didn't look like a girl's. Ewwwww).

Anyways, you poor kids, I salute you. Enjoy these fleeting days before they toss you back in. Go skin some knees, make some memories.
Summer.
Ain't it grand when you're young?

This strip wassn't as easy as you think to make... but it was easier.
Kinda spawns off my 18 page comic in 24thecomicstrip most of last week and Monday-- just an incredibly overambitious project.

Normally, I'd add something here, but frankly, I'm literally doing my own Dirty Job, toting airplane parts out of a shop for the past 3 days, and tomorrow as well. I'm flat out exhausted.

The things I do for money...

By the way, I've been doing a week-long original story (incolor!) with 24thecomicstrip this week.

C'mon by and check it out!

Seriously though, they've been doing this thing for a while now in certain theaters where the commercials run before you sit down at the appointed start time, with ultra-painful comedy bits, clips of albums you'd never buy, and-- most bizarre of all, a full 3 minute concert about the joys of underwear sung by men dressed as large fruit.

Somehow, I knew I'd get there too early, and I packed my gameboy in my pocket. It certainly paid off.

I do however live for trailers. Granted, they've ruined any surprises anymore by adding just a little too much into the teaser, or worse, use the best joke, but it really turnes be back into the 12 year-old kid who gets excited about a sequel to a favorite film or something that has me going "man, why didn't I think of that?"

Anyways, enjoy the show, and shut the heck up already when you're in the dark. It's a theater, not the United Nations on embargo issues.

Nothing really new say this week-- I'm hard at work on next week's 24: The Comic Strip, running a
full five straight days, Monday, August 6th through Friday, August 11th-- and you don't even have to be a 24 fan to enjoy it.

It's a story a year in the making, so stop by over at 24thecomicstrip next week to read the early...early....early adventure of Jack Bauer!


While I find the show Who Wants to be a Superhero to be relatively silly and missed the majority of the episodes last year due to it, I will say that this year's crop has some very colorful characters.
The hero who goes by Mindset actually has a really well-designed costume before the show ultimately "improves" it, actually making it look worse than what he made. Personal favorites:

The Defuser-- cycle cop, dad of 3, natural-born leader.
Basura-- shmexy costume made entirely out of discarded trash, and good natured.
Parthenon-- A little gay, a lot of heart.
Hyperstrike-- Young acrobat out of Chicago, knows dynamic poses and stances for heroes.
Mr. Mitzvah-- A taller, bleached-hair Jackie Mason, who had the line of the show, interviewing a victim of a robbery about his wares:

Mr. Mitzvah:"Where was your (stolen) vase from?"
Warehouse owner: "Taiwan."
Mr. Mitzvah: "No not you, the vase!"

Next Monday in 24thecomicstrip: Li'l Jack

Although I stopped watching The Simpsons about five years ago due to atrocious writing and horribly unfunny material (much like my comics), I couldn't help but make the trip to my local mecca for Buzz Cola, Squishees, and Krusty-O's:

In case you were under a rock for the past month, they've converted a handful (and I do mean handful) of 7-11's to Quik-E-Mart's until the end of the month of July to promote the Simpsons movie (which I will probably go see anyways). check here to see if there's one by you-- but if you don't live near a major city, chances are you're out of luck.
( Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart? I doooo! More pix here! )

The great (or perhaps bad) thing about summer is that there's still plenty of new and returning shows to watch on the boob tube (no pun intended with this week's strip). Frankly, I stay away from the "talent" shows-- they're nothing more than a glorified Gong Show sans a guy with a paper bag on his head.
Stuff like a new season of Dirty Jobs, Ghost Hunters, Man Vs. Wild, and best of all, Eureka on the SciFi Channel-- probably the best show you're not watching right now.
Jack Carter, U.S. Marshal, on the way back to L.A. gets caught up in a small, off-the map town of Eureka. Unfortunately, he gets drafted as the town's sheriff with troublemaker daughter Zoe in tow, and becomes all too aware of the town's government-funded development corporation Global Dynamics, complete with force fields, alternate realites, and spontaneously combustible citizens.

But, here's the trick about the show-- it's one part sci-fi, complete with 11th hour solutions to apocalyptic problems, but also one part comedy, two parts heart, and that's what makes it stand out from the rest. Through interpersonal conflicts, amicable citizens, and bizarre gadgetry and science gone awry, the likeable cast of the sleepy techno-savvy town don't even have what you could call an evil villain.
No, really-- and that's the best part-- the town, or rather Global Dynamics becomes its own worst enemy, biting off more than it can chew. But, Sheriff Carter, with the help of some recognizable faces (Matt Frewer, best known for his sci-fi alter ego Max Headroom and Joe Morton, memorable in roles from The Brother From Another Planet and the forefather of the Cyberdyne Systems Terminator line of public representatives), make this something I look forward to Tuesday nights. Mayberry gone Matrix? Maybe. But it's a fresh idea for the summertime blues.

So, if you're not familiar with my other comic, 24thecomicstrip, I usually have a few things to say-- here, I'm going to throw my two cents in about pop culture, since, well, that is what this is all about.


So, first topic: Underdog. Yes, I was old enough to watch the cartoon... in reruns as a kid. I loved that edgy art it had, sort of that Jay Ward Rocky and Bullwinkle feel that was prominent at the time.

But of course, now there's an upcoming movie. Inspector Gadget missed the mark, and even had Brain utter a human line at the end of the film (at least it was voiced by Gadget's original voice, Don Adams -- RIP, Maxwell Smart). Underdog this time has a master. Polly isn't a reporter pooch, but at least Bar Sinister is in fact short and evil. But there's always something weird about realistic animals/people portraying animated counterparts. By this time, can't we take the 2D art and spice it up for the 21st Century? Simpsons seem to be doing it just fine.

Oh well, rant over. I'll just pop my super energy pill and fly off.

...have these things been tested by the FDA?

Welcome to Planet X. Pop culture, cultural differences, and a good way to empty out your wallet.

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